Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Paul at home

This is no great surprise but the Texas poll we put out today confirmed that Ron Paul's standing within the Republican Party has a lot more to do with the volume of his support than its breadth.

Only 38% of primary voters in his home state have a favorable opinion of Paul while 30% view him unfavorably. 32% said they had no opinion of Paul.

The poll also found that only 8% of Texas Republicans think of themselves as libertarians.

With those kinds of numbers at home it's further indication that Ron Paul's victory in the straw poll at CPAC was confirmation that...he knows how to get his people to vote in meaningless polls. And not much more than that...

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Um. . . What are you talking about? Since when Did Paul's net +8 favorability rating among Republican primary voters prove that he is somehow non-viable as a candidate. His support is WAY up since 2008 and is continuing to rise.

His protege Debra Medina is polling at 20% in the Governor's race vs. two establishment titans.

Paul's electoral viability in a primary doesn't depend on how many people don't like him but on how many people do like him enough to vote for him. I'd judge that number to be high enough to make him a major factor in the Presidential primary should he choose to run.

McCain was hated by a lot of the grassroots base but he became the nominee because he had 1/3 of the electorate who would come out and vote for him. Paul could certainly replicate that kind of showing.

It isn't as simple as this entry makes it out to be. Paul supporters are VERY active and not because Dr. Paul gathers them or actively stumps them to do so. These are rugged individualists who see that something HAS to be done and that THEY have to do it.

Yeah, I don't think this has anything to do with Paul stirring up 'his people' to vote. That CPAC poll was dominated by young people; college Republicans and others who see themselves as revolutionaries.

And it makes sense that they are attracted to his fiscal policies, seeing as how they are the ones who are going to suffer the most if our current policies continue.

Also, many young people have 'moved past' the abortion/gay marriage debate, and a libertarian philosophy, for better or worse, allows them the freedom to be fiscally conservative but socially liberal.